Targeting Black Carbon and Short-Lived GHGs to Reduce Global

Warming, Improve Public Health & Increase Crop Yields

Black Carbon Reduction Program

Linda Schade, Director, Black Carbon Reduction Program, Climate Institute

Foro Nacional “Planes de Acción Climática Municipal”PACMUN

Senado de la República, 24 de Febrero de 2012Mexico City, Mexico

Tickell Interactive Network

Critical Need for Climate Action

“On the basis of the increasing pace of global warming, including the potential for an abrupt acceleration, … the risk appears to be increasing that a tipping point leading to ‘dangerous,’ or perhaps even catastrophic change could surprise us in the years ahead.”

Dr. Michael C. MacCrackenChief Climate Scientist, Climate Institute

2009

Climate Tipping Points

• Threshold events that lead to sudden acceleration of global climate change such as:• Loss of Arctic sea ice and/or much of Greenland ice

sheet • Thawing of permafrost releases trapped methane

• Difficult to predict, very likely to occur before 2050

• Reducing total warming before 2050 is critical to avoiding these tipping points

Black Carbon (Soot)• Dark-colored type of aerosol/particulate

matter (PM) • Absorbs sunlight and heat• Stays in atmosphere for only 1 – 2 weeks

• BC is equal to 28 – 55% of CO2 Warming Effect

• BC deposits decrease reflectivity of snow and ice• Enormous regional increase in warming effect• Most severe in the Arctic and Himalayas

• Harmful to human respiratory health

20th Century GHG Emissions

21st Century CO2

Warming Effect During 21st CenturyBusiness as Usual Emissions Scenario, Assumes Some Improvement in Energy Efficiency

Credit: MacCracken 2009

20th Century GHG Emissions

21st Century CO2

Warming Effect During 21st CenturyBusiness as Usual Emissions Scenario, Assumes Some Improvement in Energy Efficiency

Credit: MacCracken 2009

20th Century GHG Emissions

21st Century CO2

Warming Effect During 21st Century

Credit: MacCracken 2009

20th CBC

•Total warming effect will double this century •CO2 is only ½ the total effect•Tipping points become more likely as warming effect rises

Business as Usual Emissions Scenario

20th Century GHG Emissions

21st Century CO2 only

Warming Effect During 21st Century

Credit: MacCracken 2009

Aggressive Reductions in both GHGs and Black Carbon

•Represents 50% GHG Emissions Reduction by 2050, 80% by 2100 •Black Carbon reduced 40% by 2025, 70% by 2040•CO2 reduces significantly more slowly than short-lived species

Severe Arctic Warming

• BC is the driving force behind arctic warming:

“Tropospheric ozone and BC snow albedo effect contribute substantially to rapid warming and sea ice loss in the Arctic.”

Dr. James Hansen et al. 2005

Pollutant Warming LifeSpan • Carbon Dioxide 1.56 Centuries -

Millennia• CFC / HCFC 0.28 Hundreds of years• N2O 0.14 114 years• Methane 0.86 12 years• VOC/CO (pre-O3)0.27 hours/months• Black Carbon 0.44-0.9 1-2 weeks

Total 3.55 – 4.01 watts/ sq. meter

Sources: IPCC AR4 (2007), MacCracken and Moore (2008), Ramanathan and Carmichael (2008).

Virulent Short-Lived Forcers Require New ANSI Measurement Standard

Global Climate Pollutants

GWP 2050

Carbon Dioxide 1Methane 56Nitrous Oxide 286HFCs, CFC, HCFCs 200-3,000Black Carbon 1,113Tropospheric Ozone 49

Using 2050 Time Horizon

Source: Scientific Certification Systems

*Under proposed standard, Arctic Regional Warming Potential of BC is equivalent to 44,000 times the warming power of CO2.

Health and Other Impacts Black Carbon and Ozone:

• Indoor air pollution causes 1.8 million deaths annually; women and children make up 85% of all air pollution related deaths.

• Ozone reduces crop yields and disturbs rainfall and circulation patterns.

Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants:

New international effort that includes Bangladesh, Canada, Ghana, Mexico, and the U.S.

Open burning: BC+ organic carbon

Transportation: Diesel is BC rich

Residential cooking: BC + organic carbon

Industry (coke) BC and sulfate

No such thing as just BC emissions; co-emitted species tend to have effect.

Sources of Black Carbon

Ways to Reduce Black Carbon• Cleaner Cookstoves• Diesel Particulate Traps• New Diesel Engines using Low-Sulfur Fuel• Industrial Energy Recycling• High-Efficiency Brick Kilns• Suppression of Forest Fires• Two-Stroke Engine Retrofits and Phase-

out (Asia)

A new public-private partnership led by the United Nations Foundation seeking to create a thriving global market for clean cookstoves in the developing world in order to:

• Save lives by reducing exposure to cookstove smoke; • Empower women through productive enterprises associated with stove use, distribution, and production;• Improve livelihoods by reducing disease, freeing time and saving money (which can be used for the purchase of food, medicine, or school fees) and many other social benefits (e.g. clean kitchen, extra time, etc. • Combat climate change by mitigating emissions of black carbon and greenhouse gases, reducing rate of deforestation• Advance Millennium Development Goals related to poverty, health,gender equality, and the environment.

Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves

Photo Credit: Sunil Lal Photo Credit: E+Co Photo Credit: GTZ Photo Credit: Nigel Bruce

Reducing U.S. Diesel Emissions National

In 2007, new vehicle and fuel standards began for new heavy vehicles; voluntary retrofit program combines to result in a 70% decline from 2001 to 2020

All 50 states have Clean Diesel programs Retrofit state and city vehicle fleets Incentivize private retrofits Anti-idling policies and practices Require clean fuels/vehicles in public projects Sector-based polices e.g. ports, ag, transport

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Ways to Reduce Methane

to support capture of landfill gas, biomass, CHP/Cogeneration, Biogas (methane produced by livestock manure and waste, municipal waste water sludge, segregated organic wastes), Anaerobic Digestion of manure, Other Distributed Generation Technologies

• State of Illinois Biogas and Biomass to Energy Grant Program

Methane capture can be done profitably.

• Fossil Fuel Production Recovery of methane leakage from extraction, transmission, and storage of coal, oil and natural gas.

Major Opportunity: Short-Lived Forcers

• Slashing emissions of black carbon (BC), methane and other short-lived climate forcers must be part of any credible strategy for climate stabilization before reaching major tipping points

• Reductions can be achieved through existing methods that provide public health and economic benefits

• BC and short-lived GHG reduction are the best opportunity for fast-acting climate change mitigation

State and Local Policies

Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Energy Efficiency

www.dsireusa.org

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www.climate.org

Gracias

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